Intellectual Property and Technology Law Blog

Recent Posts

2018 has been a big year for privacy issues for companies around the world. The new European privacy law – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – came into force, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach came to light, the new but imperfect California Consumer Privacy Act (CaCPA) was created and…

Until recently, I did not really pay attention to class action lawsuits or settlement requirements. After all, I’m an intellectual property and technology lawyer. Class action litigation isn’t my thing. Now I am really paying attention, and I’m following the money—closely. Here’s why… The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to investigate a class action settlement in a case filed by search engine users who…

Apparently how you smell is personal information (in California). With the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of 2016 in force for about a month, California’s legislature was looking to up its game and “get tough” on its big, home-grown tech companies’ well-documented privacy faux pas. So on June 28,…

After being introduced in April 2016, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) officially comes into enforcement effect today, replacing the existing EU Data Protection Directive. Although similar to the previous data protection law, the GDPR includes new and enhanced requirements aimed to protect the fundamental rights of natural…

In a highly anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States recently held that the disparagement clause of federal trademark law violates the First Amendment. This disparagement clause refused federal trademark registration for trademarks that are likely to disparage people, institutions, or beliefs. All eight participating justices agreed that…

Sometimes a President can’t always do what he wants. But tell that to the owner of the Twitter handle @RealDonaldTrump, who happens to also be the current President of the United States and a new government actor. Mr. Trump has created more controversy by using his personal Twitter handle to…

DecodingIP™

At DecodingIP™ our focus is on interesting intellectual property and technology law issues that are making headlines. You’ll also see updates on e-discovery trends, social media and IP, software issues, celebrity branding, and famous trademarks.

Decoding IP™ is not a canned, boring summary of court cases using rehashed legalese. We explain intellectual property and tech issues making headlines, in plain English, and why we think they’re important–both legally and practically.